Lessons From the Masters

As the dusk gathered in the early Easter Sunday evening at Augusta National (Georgia, USA) this past week, an epic battle was taking shape on the famed fairways of this great golf course. This was the 76th rendition of The Masters, one of the four Major golf tournaments of each calendar year, but one which holds perhaps a greater cultural EQ than the other three because it is played on the same golf course every year, whereas the others rotate to various locations annually.

On Sunday, the back nine was on fire with shots that were played with flair and incredible boldness under the pressure of competition, and I was rooting for South African Louis Oosthuizen, hoping that as a nation we may have the privilege of back to back victories (Charl Swartzel won in 2011) and another green jacket coming to our sunny shores. But as it turned out, after an incredible day's golf, Louis ended up tied in a playoff with the left-handed Bubba Watson. Observing him was an interesting experience, with his standard plain white outfit (exactly the same each day) and bright pink driver straight out of Vegas, hardly ever saying a word on the course, and I wondered who on earth this guy was. I had heard that the main swords in his armoury are huge distance on his drives, and a creative bent when in trouble, to fashion a shot out of nothing a la Seve Ballesteros, but his playing action is unorthodox to say the least, and with the kind of freedom usually associated with a Friday afternoon 9 holes with the mates. And yet he won on one of the four largest stages in world golf, on a golf course that has been toughened up a lot over the years, in the crucible of high level tournament pressure.

After he won, I came across an article about him which mentioned that he had never in his life had a golf lesson, and nor did he consult a swing coach which these days is "de rigeur" for pro golfers. I thought I had misread the sentence, and I read it again. It said exactly the same thing. These days the science of the golf swing is big business, and the challenge to be the fittest, strongest, hit it the longest, know everything about the mechanics, use the latest equipment, ensure that your mind is fully focused, dominate your opponent and so on has become a full blown industry in itself, to put it mildly. Many theories compete to claim ownership over the physics of the "perfect swing", and there's always someone on hand to give a lesson for a few bob, or many.

And through all this noise, comes a bloke who just loves to play the game, and trusts his swing and feel of the shot, to get himself around the golf course, basically making it up as he goes along. He said that he learned to create shots by hitting balls around his house. This was so refreshing to see, and it turned my attention to the reason for the season, being Easter Sunday. The day that we celebrate as the greatest day in history, when Jesus rose from the dead.

The question that I started asking is what do I rely for my ongoing journey in my walk with God. Life Changers called it Redemption Sunday. Mars Hill church in Seattle called this Easter "It's all about Jesus". This is the essence of what Easter is about. Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world. I would like to take it one step further and say that it's not all about Jesus, it is ONLY about Jesus, and what He accomplished over Passover week 2000 years back.

And just as Bubba Watson chose to forego the trappings of a culture which tried to tell him how to play golf, may this Easter remind us that our incredible, indomitable, unbelievable Gospel is only, ever, about Jesus. Do we put our faith in method, or ritual, or second hand revelation. Or do we put our faith in the one place where it finds its greatest purchase, and most awesome reward? In Jesus Christ alone.